classicnickelodeonfandomcom-20200213-history
Hey Arnold!
Hey Arnold! was a Nicktoon which debuted in 1996. It starred Arnold and various other characters as they dealt with city life. Characters *Arnold- an average kid with a football-shaped head (leading others to refer to him as "football head"). Always wears a shirt (which is often mistaken for a skirt) and a hat. He has several pets. * Gerald Johansen- an African-American kid with tall hair (similar to Marge Simpson) * Harold Berman- a fat, somewhat dimwitted bully. He is Jewish, and one episode features his Barmitzvah. * Helga Pataki- a bullying girl with broom-shaped pigtails, who (despite her aparent annoyance with Arnold) is secretly in love with him. She is apparently of Polish descent. * Grandpa Phil- a wily old man running a boarding house, where Arnold and his grandparents live. In one episode, it is revealed that he is 81 years old * Grandma Gertie- a lively, albeit strange, old lady. * Phoebe Heyerdahl- Helga's nerdy friend, who is much kinder to everyone. She is half-Japanese. * Sid- an easily-paranoid member of the group, but always creating unrealistic plans. He wears a leather jacket and a green baseball cap (always backwards). * Eugene Horowitz- a weird, red-headed kid whose hairstyle resembles a soup can. He is extremely unlucky. He is of Jewish ancestry. * Stinky Peterson- an optimistic and kindly Southern kid * Rhonda Lloyd- a snooty girl who tries to keep up with the latest fashion trends * Nadine- Rhonda's best friend; is an entomologist *Brainy- a weird kid who appears to be attracted to Helga. He breathes weirdly, prompting Helga to punch him in the face *Lila Sawyer- a girl whom Arnold has a crush on *Torvald- a thirteen-year-old bully who was held back for several years. He is named after the grandfather of Leif Eriksson. *Dr. Bliss- a humble psychologist. She and Phoebe are the only two people to whom Helga has ever admitted her crush on Arnold. *Mr.Simmons- The second fourth grade teacher in the show. He believes that teaching is best approached in sensitive manner and has a tendency to make quotation gestures for strange reasons. *Principal Wartz- the strict school principal at PS118 Boarding House Members *Ernie- a New Yorker who works for a wrecking company *Mr. Hyunh (pronounced "whin")- a Vietnamese immigrant with a very thick accent, but a beautiful country singing voice. His country voice is provided by actual singer Randy Travis. *Oscar- an annoying Eastern European (referred to as Czechoslavakian in one episode) immigrant *Mr. Smith- a mysterious unseen character, always seen in a trenchcoat Other Characters *The Johansens- Gerald's family. They are African-American. **Mr. Johansen- Gerald's father, who is easily stressed.O **Mrs. Johansen- Gerald's mother. **Timberly- Gerald's little sister **Jamie- Gerald's older brother *The Patakis- Helga's family, possibly of Central or Eastern European descent **Robert (Big Bob) Pataki- Helga's oafish, ambitious entrepreneur father, a successful beeper salesman who owns a beeper store **Miriam Pataki- Helga and Olga's inattentive mother. **Olga Pataki- Helga's extremely gifted sister *Mai Hyunh- Mr. Hyunh's daughter, whom he hasn't seen since the Vietnam War, and was taken from him during Opereation Frequent Wind. Mai is reunited with her father during the Christmas episode. *Arnie- Arnold's weird cousin who enjoys such things as reading the ingredients off food packages, collecting lint, and chewing plain flavoured gum. He falls in love with Helga. Controversy *One episode features Arnold participating in an eating contest. *One part of an episode involves Sid having to give Arnold a swirly, which is a controversial prank as it can lead to drowning. *In one episode, two characters moon the principal. DVD The first two seasons have been released through Amazon's burn-on-demand service. iTunes The show is available on iTunes. Running Gags *Throughout the show, a running gag was that Arnold's last name was never revealed. It has since been unofficially determined that his last name is Shortman. Film A movie was created in 2002. It centers around the city in which arnold lives. Gaming Video games were released based on the film. Trivia *In 2002, the story of Arnold's lost parents was revealed. *Arnold's favorite baseball player is Mickey Kaline. **His name is a possible reference to Mickey Mantle and Al Kaline. **The secondary logo on his jersey indicates that he plays for the Chicago White Sox, although Mickey Mantle played for the Yankees and Al Kaline played for the Tigers. ***However, the Cardinals faced the Yankees in the 1964 World Series and the Detroit Tigers in 1967. **He indicates that he faced Bob Gibson in the World Series. Gibson played in the 1964 and 1967 World Series, winning both with the St. Louis Cardinals. As the episode debuted in 1996, Kaline would have to have been playing for no less than thirty years. **Because Kaline plays for the White Sox, this may indicate that Arnold lives in Chicago. *Grampa Phil's first love interest was actress Hedy Lamarr. *Grampa Phil drives a Packard *In one episode, one street has a pothole big enough for a car to fall into. This is actually a sinkhole. *In one episode, Phoebe is rehearsing to perform the popular vocal standard "Moonlight Bay". *In one episode, Arnold and his friends are combining their talents to set the world record for the world's biggest pizza puff. The recipe calls for 150 teaspoons of baking soda, which is 3 cups. Considering the size of the puff, that would still be way too small an amount. *In one episode, Grampa Phil is mocked as being the "oldest living American". Phil then "defends" himself as the "second oldest", calling his wife "the oldest". Incidentally, the actual oldest living American at the time was Sarah Knauss of Pennsylvania, age 116 at the time of the show's debut. *Arnold attends P.S. 118. There is a real P.S. 118 in Queens. This may indicate that Hey Arnold takes place in Queens. *In one episode, Helga accidentally leaves a message expressing her passion for Arnold on his answering machine. Arnold's grandmother misinterprets this message as being from "Helen of Troy", a historical figure, "trying to sell a passion fruit drink over the phone" (i.e. telemarketing). *Eugene's idol is a superhero named The Abdicator. To "abdicate" means to "step down" or "resign". *During a political campaign, one candidate is described as "using fancy words" to get support. These "fancy words" likely refer to jargon. *The character Dino Spumoni is a parody of jazz vocalist Frank Sinatra. Spumoni, incidentally, is the name of a type of Italian ice cream. *Mayim Bialik, later known for her portrayal as Amy on popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory, appeared in a few episodes as a sixth grader. *One episode is based around opera **Arnold represents Don Jose from Carmen **Helga represents Brunhilde from Die Walkurie **Harold represents the sad clown from Pagliacci Category:Nicktoons